With its unique story and lovable cast of characters, few science-fiction features from
the 1980s are as memorable as Back to the Future. One of the film's co-stars, Claudia
Grace Wells, was a standout, but her profile dropped significantly in the years following
the film's release. Here's what she's been up to since.
The first act of Marty McFly's time-traveling adventure introduces us to the zany residents
of Hill Valley, California, the 1985 version. Aside from getting viewers acquainted with
Doc Brown, Marty's eccentric father George, and the highly punchable Biff Tannen, the
first installment of Back to the Future offered the initial introduction to Jennifer Jane
Parker, Marty's girlfriend and future wife, a quintessential 1980s dream girl.
"Does your mom know about tomorrow night?"
"Nah, get out of town. My mom thinks I'm going camping with the guys."
Although the role of Jennifer Parker would be played and voiced by several other notable
actresses throughout the life of the franchise, including Elizabeth Shue, who took over love-interest
duties in the sequel, any fan of Back to the Future will tell you that the real Jennifer
Parker was and always will be Claudia Grace Wells. Wells only played the part in the original
Back to the Future, but she left a mark on the character that endures to this day.
Unsurprisingly, this Reagan-era starlet remains as radiant as ever, and she's actually been
up to some pretty interesting things since starring in an iconic piece of American cinema.
Although Wells was born in Malaysia, she grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved
to Los Angeles as a young teen, where she immediately became interested in acting. She
graduated from Beverly Hills High School and soon after started appearing on a number of
popular TV series of the time. Wells landed guest spots on Family and Strike Force, plus
a five-episode arc on Herbie, the Love Bug, just to name a few.
Wells' girl-next-door appeal served her well in the early years of her career, and as the
TV roles continued to pour in, she finally got her big break. But Wells almost had to
bail on Back to the Future because a pilot she had recently joined for ABC got picked
up, and she was contractually obligated to follow through on the shoot.
The early days of Back to the Future's production featured a bizarro world version of the cast
we know and love today. Eric Stoltz played the role of Marty McFly and The Office's Melora
Hardin was cast opposite him in the role of Jennifer. By the time Wells' was done shooting
her pilot, director Robert Zemeckis had put a halt on filming Back to the Future and recast
a young up-and-comer named Michael J. Fox in the leading role. With her calendar clear,
Wells stepped in to claim the part she had originally been handed, and the rest is history.
Back to the Future launched Wells to the heights of teen stardom, and she seemed poised to
conquer the industry. She appeared in one more major 1986 project, a short-lived television
adaptation of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and then promptly disappeared from the limelight.
It was a stunning vanishing act, one hardly explained away by the cancelled series. So,
where did she go?
It's rare for a young star with an entire career ahead of her to simply walk away, but
Wells made her premature exit for a noble cause. Shortly after the release of Back to
the Future and the subsequent cancellation of Fast Times, her mother was diagnosed with
cancer. Wells immediately put her career on hold, and returned home to care for her ailing
parent throughout the treatment process.
Wells' mother was intimately involved in her career, even serving in an official capacity
as her manager. As Wells told People for a 2015 profile,
"I just didn't have it in me to do anything but deal with the stress and the emotions
that were going on as a result of my mom being in the process of dying. I just wasn't in
a place to be able to think about my career or the film or anything other than what I
was doing with my own life. Life was very, very difficult and stressful."
As for how she felt about Elizabeth Shue slipping into the role she made famous, Wells said,
"When I found out she was cast, I was actually very flattered and honored because I think
she's an amazing actress. And funny enough, [the lead role in] Adventures in Babysitting
was between her, me, and Phoebe Cates. I have nothing but respect and praise for her, and
I still have not met her."
Sadly, Wells' mother did indeed succumb to her disease, and the loss upended Wells' life
to the point that she felt unable to return to acting for the better part of a decade.
Fortunately, that isn't where Claudia Wells' story ends.
In 1994, Wells took her talents to the San Fernando Valley, opening a high-end menswear
shop in Studio City called Armani Wells. With Wells serving in the dual capacity of owner
and manager, Armani Wells flourished. In service for almost 30 years, Armani Wells' success
proves that its owner is much more than just a pretty face. Wells told People,
"I opened it partially because I wanted a financial base. So I could go back to acting
on my terms, where if a role isn't right or if it's not a project I want to do, I could
say no, I wouldn't be desperate or hungry."
And go back to acting, she did. In 1996, Wells dipped her toe into the acting pond by starring
in the indie film Still Waters Burn. After a long hiatus, she appeared in the 2011 low-budget
sci-fi disaster film Alien Armageddon. Since then, Wells has worked on and off, appearing
on the hit CBS drama The Mentalist the same year and even reprising the role of Jennifer
Parker in a tie-in video game from 2015.
"Jennifer is a slightly mean version of her sweet self."
Wells doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon, either. Her next film is the action
title Quinn, and she has three more follow-up projects in pre-production or early development,
as of the making of this video. Once the industry gets back on its feet, we're sure we'll be
seeing plenty of Marty McFly's original muse on the silver screen.
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